Suite in F Major

A contemporary of J. S. Bach and Handel, Georg Philip Telemann possibly composed more music than either, as staggering as that achievement may seem. Bach’s reputation is secure today on the basis of his sacred music (cantatas, organ chorales) and impeccable keyboard works (Goldberg Variations, Well-Tempered Clavier), while Handel earned his laurels predominantly in the theater, as we will hear later in the Festival performance of Hercules. Telemann contributed significantly to all of these areas, and then some. Little known today are his 40 operas or hundreds of concertos. Bear in mind, too, that Bach secured his last and most prestigious position—at the Thomas-Kirche in Leipzig—only after the job was first offered to Telemann, who turned it down.

The F-major suite contains five movements. It opens with a typical French overture in three sections, so-called because the dotted rhythms and flair of the outer sections echo the dramatic music of Lully and other 17th-century French court composers. Between these sections, the overture features a contrasting, canonic passage in triple meter. The remaining movements are all dances: Rondeau, Sarabande, Menuet, and Boureé. Telemann’s Rondeau retains some of that dance’s pastoral heritage, as it begins with a simple, noodling melody played over a drone bass. The Sarabande and Menuet are both triple-meter dances but with one significant difference: whereas the minuet, like the waltz, carries a strong accent on the first beat in the measure, the Sarabande stresses the second beat. It is a high style dance appropriate for a poignant or serious expressive mood, and it was particularly popular at Spanish courts. The concluding Boureé may be identified by that dance’s “calling card”: the single upbeat in duple meter, which throws energy toward the ensuing downbeat. Telemann’s Boureé is a lively and strong dance, making it an appropriate way to close the entire suite.

(c) Jason Stell